ASSESSMENT OF THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS OF WOMEN LIVESTOCK FARMERS IN KANO STATE

Abstract

This study examined the socio-economic characteristics of women livestock farmers in Kano State, Nigeria. The target population for the study comprised women farmers in livestock production in three local governments in Kano State namely; Kumbotso, Bunkure and Kura. It considered the socio- economic characteristics of women livestock farmers, type of livestock kept, herd size and yearly income. Multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select 90 respondents for the study. Primary data were collected with the aid of well-structured questionnaires. Data collected were analyzed using frequency, percentages, pie-charts and bar-charts. The results obtained revealed that majority (52.44%) of the respondents fell within the age bracket of (19-34) years, 50.0% were married, while 59.76% had a household size of 1-10 individuals. From the results obtained, 37.80% of the women kept goats, 15.85% kept cattle while 2.44% kept camels. The results also revealed that majority of the respondents had a small herd size (5-10 animals) and their yearly income was low (N51,000-100,00). This study therefore recommends that women farmers should come together to form cooperatives thereby combining their resources to support one another for growth and development of the livestock sector.